Holder for matches, toothpicks, straws, and the like



March z3 192s. Y 1,577,940

N. R. WALKER HOLR Fon MATCHES, TooTHPIcKs, sTRAws, AND THE LIKE Filed'Nov. 2l, 3.924

wir

l of All/liiiiiesota',- have ilatented Mar. 23, 1926.

Nonnen n. WALKER; or eos-'rum iaiNNEso'iA.

l HOLDER FOR-MATCHES, TOOTEICKS, STANS, ANDiTHE LIKE.

To all whom z'lmay concern! l Be it known that' I, lNORMAN R.

Application filed November 21, 19211. Serial No; 7515261.: A

lNALKnr.,

a citizen 'ot-the United States, residing at Aust-in, in the -conntyfoiIMower and. State 'invent-ed certain' nev and useful Improvements inHolders Matches, Toothpicli's,

Straws, and thelilre;

and l do hereby'dec'lare the y'li'ol'loivin'g to be a Afull,l clear,.and -eXact description of the finv'ention',such

as Avvi'llenable others skilled in thev art to -Which4 it' appertaii'isto inale and use thel same,

Mv invention" relates matches, toothpicks,

to holders for straws andr the like, and

more particularly, 'to"'su`ch a holder otthe ejector type, and has provethe saine i-nthe severall particulars hereinafter noted'.v

ln the A acc'ompanyii'igl illustrate the invention,

'for its object to im- .drawin'gs lwhich like characters i'ndif catelike. parts throiighoiit'the several'vievs. To the abovev end,'-generally? stated', the invention `consists -V of l the novel devicesand combinations of devices Ahereinafter l described and defined inthe'claim.-

Reteriing to the drawings :v

Figi is a plan vieyvot lthe invention;

Figz is a view partly in side elevation and partly in central verticalsection, Vtaken on the line 2-'2 of Fig. 1;

l? 3 is a view principally iii'transverse section,

taken on the line se of ing. e,

Fig. #lis a 'detailvieW principally in section7 :taken on the line-41,'A 'of FME... 3;

Fig. 5 is a perspective vien7 blade; and Y Fig. 6 is a of tlie ej coterdetail vien7 in transverse section showing a modification ot the ejectorblade.

tangular in cross section.

Above the staiidard 7 is a cast head S having` a depending skirt 9 thatstandard. ceptacle parent glass and having gated passageway 11.receptacle 10 converge 11, and as shown, without any obstructions.V l

loosely telescopes over said Carried by the head 8 is a re- 10preferably formed from transin its top an elonrPhe sides 01"' the to thepassageway are preteralily smooth, i Formed With the bottom ofthereceptacle y10 is a base l2 Ithat is slidably 15? in the head 8;

The sides of the baise' 12 moiinted in cliai'inel ylike seats 19 'formedin'the base G.

engagement with the* sidesot `said? channely and' hold thfe receptacle10lirmly on the head 8. Vllithin the' recepta'clelll isa multiplicity oftoothpiclsf' Xl' Itis, ofcourse,

understood that, in place'ot thetoothpielis, Y

matches maybe held iii the receptafolefor by melting said'receptaclelonger,'the same may bepused for holding' straws, snch as used a 'sodafonntainiff To remove 'the to'othpiclisl Lfrom' 'the' ieceptacle 10, oneat a time', there is"pr`o' vided anejector blade 15 'having in" itsupper 'et ge alongitudinally extended groove 16 which is V-shaped incross section, and said ejector blade '15', iiiterinedi'ately ofthe encsoli said groove, is notched lat 17 .to afford a passageway. The size oithe groovelV is such as to 'hold only a Asingle toothpick at' a'tim'e,and-the notch 17 is provided toy permit the voperator to'easily piolrAupthe toothpick held in the (groove 16 from the' ejector bladeIlntegral'ly formed with the ejector 'blade' 15 ,is `va 'pair o' l flatdepending legs' 18, whichI extend through the skirt 9, standard 7,' andhave their' l'ovver end portionsmounted' in sleeve# Cotter pins 20 areprovided for holding the legs 18 in their' seats 19'. f

The 'ejector blade 15v is'noi'n'ially seated in a slot 21 termed in the'base 1.2 and head S Vwith its upper edge* portion flush with the bottom`otfthe receptacle' 110, 'as best shown in Fig-.53." The headV 8 isprovided with a cross-tie inen'iberQQ, Wl'iich extends through the slot'21 in the head 8 and is straddled by the ejector blade 15 and legs 18.A pair of coiled springs 23, encircling the legs 18, are compressedbetween the head 8 and base 6 and normally hold said head and thereceptacle 10 carried thereby to their raised positions. Normally, theejector blade 15 engages the cross-tie member 22 as a stop and limitsthe projecting movement ot the receptacle 10.

To 'remove a toothpiclr from the receptacle 10, the operator, "W'ith onehand pi'sses downward on the receptacle 1G against the 'tension of thesprings 23, which causes the skirt 9 to telescope over the standard 7and engage the base 6 as a stop, as indicated by broken lines in Fig. 3.rl`his movement of the receptacle 10 is such as to move below the upperedge portion of the ejector blade 15 so that the same projects throughthe passageway 11 and thereabove. During this compressing movement ofthe receptacle 10, the toothpicks X are carried downward therewith awayfrom the ejector blade 15 and leaving only one thereof in the groove 16.This single toothpick is so held by the ejector blade 15 above thereceptacle 10 that the operator can easily take hold of the same at thenotch 17 and lift the same from the ejector blade 1-5. After thetoothpick in the groove 16 has been removed, the operator releases thedepressed receptacle 10, which is immediately returned to normalposition by the springs 23.

Obviously, the standard 7 and sli` completely encase the legs 18 andsprings 23, and there is sufficient clearance between said skirts andstandard to prevent friction or wear between the parts thereof. The legs18, at their ends, are securely held in the base 6, and at their upperends are connected by the ejector blade 15 and thereby securely hold thehead 8. The hopper bottom of the receptacle 10 causes the toothpicks toroll to the center of said receptacle and over the upper end of' theejector blade 15 when the receptacle is returned to normal position, sothat one thereof will fall into the groove 16 and be ejected the nexttime the holder is operated. The converging sides of the receptacle 10,aside from giving the receptacle an artistic appearance, make itextremely easy for an operator to pass his fingers along the sidesthereof and take hold of a toothpick held on the ejector blade 15.

In assembling the several parts of the holder, the receptacle 10 is slidendwise into the channel 13 and then the legs 18 are inserted throughthe passage 11 in the receptacle and slot 21 in the base 12 and head 8until the ejector blade 15 is stopped by the cross-tie member 22. Thecoiled springs 23 are then telescoped onto `the legs 16 and said legsinserted through the hollow standard 7 and into the seats 19. The Cotterpins 21 are then inserted through aligned bores in a lug on the recessedbottom of the base 6 and legs 18, as best shown in F ig. 3. lt will thusbe seen that the several parts of the holder may be very quickly andeasily assembled, and when' once assembled are very rigid. Thereceptacle 10 is held against endwise sliding movement in the channel 13by the ejector blade 15 and legs 18.

Referring now to the modification shown in Fig. 6, the numeral 2aindicates an' ejector lblade especially designed for dispensing twostraws at a time and has a pair of parallel tf-shaped grooves 25 forholding straws 26. The ridge 27 between the grooves 25 is in crosssection in the form of an inverted V and extends considerably above theouter sides of the grooves 25 to prevent a third straw from being heldbetween the two straws 26.v

`lWhat I claim is:

1. A holder of the kind described comprising a base having a hollowstandard, a

head having a skirt forming an extension of said standard and adapted tobe telescop-ed'thereon, a receptacle carried by the head and having inits top a passageway, an ejector blade having a pair of legs eX- tendingthrough said skirt and standard and anchored to the base, and a pair ofcoiled springs encircling said legs and normally holding the receptacleraised, said ejector blade being arranged to move through the receptacleand its passageway when the receptacle is depressed against the tensionof said springs, said hollow standard and skirt forming a constantlyclosed compartment for the legs and springs.

2. The structure defined in claim 1 in which the base is cast andprovided with deep seats in which the lower end portions of the legs areseated and in further combination with fastening devices 4for securthelegs in their seats.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

NORMAN R. WTALKER.

